Generations
by kingdomkeepers365
Summary: It's been 20 years since the wars ended. The keepers are all grown up, married with children of their own. Life is normal, until they all wake up in MK. Now, the Overtakers are rising again. The keepers will need to work with their kids to fight them off. But, not everyone will feel happy about this. How will this new adventure effect relationships? Rated T just in case.
1. 20 years later

**A/N: Hello fellow keepers! For those of you who've never read my fics, I'm Juliana, known here as kingdomkeepers365. If you're a returning reader..hello! Thanks for coming back! Well I promised this fic to you guys when I finished my last one, Willa's Great Adventure. It's been in the works in my head for a while so...here it is! This chapter was so hard. Introduction chapters. Don't let anyone tell you they're even remotely easy. So anyay, that's it I guess. Sorry I babble. Please enjoy: _Generations_.  
**

_It's been 20 years_

That was the first thought that came to Willa's head. She was looking at a framed picture of her and the keepers the day that the final battle ended.

_20 years ago_. It felt like so long ago, yet at the same time it felt like just yesterday. She had been dusting her mantle when she picked up the photo. It was sitting next to a framed picture of her and the keepers present day. She glanced at the picture again and then up at the wall above the mantle where she and Philby's wedding picture was hanging in a large frame.

_How did it all happen so fast?_ she wondered. In her hands she held a picture of her at 14 years old and above her was a picture of her at 22. Aside from that, she stood in reality as a 34 year old woman, married with 3 beautiful children. Sometimes it freaked her out to look at the whole picture.

Just then, she heard the door open. Philby walked in. She walked over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey" she said.

"Hey" he replied, but before he could get another word out he was cut off by the sound of feet running through the hallway and screams of "DADDY!"

Before he knew it, Philby had one twin in each arm, Claire in his left and Kyle in his right.

"AMY!" Willa screamed down the stairs. "Your father's home" Amy Philby came running up from the basement with another girl her age. She gave her father a hug.

"Hi daddy" she said.

"Hey sugarplum" he replied, kissing her on the head.

"Amy could you walk Kelly home please? We're going out to dinner." Willa said

"Sure" Amy said. She turned to the other girl. "Come on" the two girls walked out the door and around the corner to Kelly's house.

Willa patted the twins on the back.

"Go play" she said. "I'll call you when it's time for dinner"

The twins smiled and then ran towards their playroom, having a fight with wooden swords.

"How was your day?" Willa asked Philby as she walked around the room, picking up toys.

"Fine" he said in reply. "Normal. I'm just glad the week is over."

"Well we'll have a nice weekend to wear it off"

"We're going to Magic Kingdom tomorrow right?"

"Yes."

"Where are we supposed to meet everyone?" Philby asked, being forgetful.

"In the plaza" Willa said "Right after breakfast"

"So" Philby said. "You asked me about my day. How was yours?" Willa smiled and sighed.

"Well the biggest event of the day was when Amy and Kelly skydived into Paris to be models for a fashion show, which then got invaded by the dastardly pirates Claire and Kyle." Philby laughed, a smile illuminating his whole face.

"Sounds interesting" he said, still smiling and chuckling.

"Dress up clothes…everywhere!" Willa said, now starting to laugh herself.

"Do you remember that night after the really intense Overtaker battle?" Philby asked.

"You're going to have to be more specific." Willa said laughing.

"You know, when we all went back to Charlie's house later and we found those old dress clothes in the back of her closet?"

"Oh my gosh!" Willa said smiling. "I do remember that now! And we all put them on, which included you and the guys getting dressed in drag."

The two laughed, huge smiles on their faces. After they got quiet again, Philby broke the silence.

"Do you ever miss it?" he said.

"What?" Willa replied as she continued to clean up. "Being teenagers? Ya of course. Have you seen my stretchmarks?"

"No. I mean, keeper stuff"

"Oh" Willa said shyly, turning the other way.

"What's wrong?" Philby said.

"Nothing!" Willa said, not wanting to get into a conversation about this. "It's fine let's just get ready for dinner."

"Willa" Philby said, this time a bit more serious, a bit more stern. Willa sighed. Dell could always tell when she was holding something back.

"Fine" she said. "I definitely miss being teenagers with you guys and Wayne and all of that, but, I'm not sure I miss the keeper stuff"

"What?" Philby said. "But if it wasn't for keeper stuff none of us would have gotten to know each other. We were, are the keepers. All those memories of being young we talk about, those are keeper stuff."

"I know that" Willa said, visibly agitated. "That's not what I meant I mean, the actual fighting aspect."

"You don't miss that?! But it was such a rush Willa! And what about solving all of those puzzles! You and I had some great times there!"

"Sure it was a rush and I did love it, it was a huge part of our lives, but it took so much out of our lives too Philby. For a few years we were constantly lying to our parents, being tired and not doing anything, but keeper stuff. Plus, fearing for our lives every day? Not the greatest thing."

"I never knew you felt this way" Philby said, genuinely shocked.

"I know" Willa said. "I'm not trying to say I hated being a keeper of course. I loved it but…all I'm trying to say is…I miss it, but I was also a bit glad when things went back to normal."

"I guess I can appreciate that" Philby kissed her on the cheek. Willa laughed.

"Let's go!" she said, jokingly, but urgently. "Get ready we're supposed to meet Donnie and Charlene at the restaurant in 20 minutes!"

* * *

Amy Philby and her best friend Kelly Davin laughed as they walked around the block.

Amy was an eleven year old girl. She was short and skinny. She had sea green eyes with curled, dark eyelashes. Her smooth, wavy red hair fell at her shoulders. It's light, thin strands were soft and lay delicately on her skin like silk. Her skin was light, but not as light as her father's. It was a smooth, creamy peach color. Her fingernails were painted in various neon hues, the polish chipping around the edges. She wore a purple polka-dot sundress paired with light purple toms.

Kelly was the same age as Amy and was relatively the same height. Her eyes were the color of milk chocolate, smooth and clear in appearance. Her light golden blonde hair was pin-straight and came half-way down her back. Currently she wore it in a low ponytail. Her high cheekbones were covered in freckles that sat on her pale skin. Her lips were small and dainty, with a gentle, light pink color. She wore a lime green T-shirt paired with tan capris and green flip-flops.

The two girls finally arrived at the door of a small, white house. Kelly put her finger on the doorbell. They waited a few seconds before the door opened.

"Hey!" said Jess Davin, Kelly's mother.

"Bye Amy!" Kelly said, hugging her best friend. "See you tomorrow!"

"Bye!" Amy said.

"Give your parents my love Amy." Jess said.

"I will. See you tomorrow Aunt Jess!"

Jess closed the door behind her.

"Is dad home yet?" Kelly asked.

"No. He should be home in a little bit."

"Alright." Kelly replied. "I'm just going to go draw then."

"Okay. Have fun." With that, Kelly was running down the hall to her room.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Jess was in the kitchen stirring a pot of mac and cheese. It was a long day and she was tired. Cooking was the least thing she wanted to do, but she had promised Kelly her favorite dinner, as she had gotten all As on her report card. She sighed. Life would be so much easier if she could just magically cook dinner.

Jess chuckled to herself. Ironically enough, she did have powers, but not the kind she needed. She could see the future, not that that would help to make dinner. Now her sister's powers, telekinesis, _that_ was a different story. Jess laughed.

There was a time, so long ago, when her powers were extremely useful, a time when she was Jessica Lockheart, a 15 year old girl who liked to draw. When you're battling Disney villains, dreaming the future can be highly useful. Jess couldn't count the amount of times the keepers had turned to her visions in a fix. Unknowingly, her dreams had even helped them to rescue _her._ But that was all long over now. Now there was no danger and although the dreams of the future came, they were never of anything important. Now they were just annoying: pointless visions that disrupted her sleep. Sometimes they gave her information she didn't even want to know, like when one of them spoiled the ending to a book she was .Her sister Amanda's powers could still be useful, but her? Her powers had had their time, a time that was now over and would never return.

She sat deep in thought, continuing to stir the mac and cheese when her husband Neal came walking into the kitchen.

"Hey." he said. Jess jumped, startled at the sudden noise amongst the silence.

"What's wrong?!"

"Nothing" Jess said. "Sorry I was just…thinking:

"Oh. Is Kelly home yet?"

"Ya she's in her room"

"I'm gonna go say hello" Neal said. With that he disappeared down the hall, leaving Jess alone with her thoughts once again.

* * *

While all of this was going on, Kelly was in her room coloring a picture that she had recently finished drawing. As she was coloring in grass, she jumped, startled, as the green pencil disappeared from her hand. She breathed a sigh of relief once the initial shock was over. Sometimes she still had trouble controlling her powers. She had discovered them when she was about eight years old. It had taken a lot of work to not let them show in front of her mother, especially because she didn't have full control over them yet. The only other person who knew about them was her cousin Abigail.

Kelly knew that she could never tell her mother about what she could do. It would upset her too much. When her mother told her stories about her time as a Kingdom Keepers, she had always described her powers as a curse. Kelly didn't think of them that way, but maybe it was true. After all, when would she ever need to turn invisible? Learning to control her powers took a lot of effort. Kelly didn't want to see her mother upset, so she knew that she could never tell.

"Well, might as well practice controlling them now" Kelly said aloud to herself. She hadn't had an outburst in a while. Maybe her control was getting rusty. She put the green colored pencil back in the box and closed it up, then closed her sketch pad.

She put held and hand out in front of her and focused. Turning invisible took ultimate concentration. In a few seconds, her hand had vanished from sight. She touched her fingers together. They were still there, she could feel them, but she couldn't see anything. Kelly smiled. Deciding to move farther, she next focused on her entire arm and watched it disappear before her eyes, just as her hand had.

Kelly smiled at her success. Maybe her problems with controlling her powers weren't as bad as she thought. Then, she heard a gentle rapping at her door. She knew that knock. Ever since she was a little girl, her father always knocked on her door the same way. He would tap out the first five beats to "Shave and a Hair-cut". He would rarely wait long before walking in.

Panicking, Kelly quickly willed her arm back to normal. Thankfully, it did change back, and just in time before her father would have seen something. Just as her arm had solidified, her dad opened the door.

"Hey" he said.

"Hi dad!" Her father walked over and kissed her on the head.

"How was your day?" he asked.

"Good" Kelly said. "I went over Amy's house"

"Did you have fun?"

"Yes."

"Guys Dinner's ready!" Jess shouted from the other room.

Kelly's father wrapped his arm around her and together they walked to the kitchen.

No. Kelly could most definitely never let her family know her secret. Something like that, it wasn't worth the risk of tearing this happy little family apart.

* * *

Willa, Dell, Amy, Claire and Kyle all sat at a table in their favorite restaurant awaiting the Maybecks' arrival. They were already 20 minutes late.

"See you kept bugging me about moving so we would get here on time and look!" Dell said. Willa punched him playfully in the arm.

Claire and Kyle were coloring their kids' menus to pass the time. Amy was doodling on a napkin with a pen. Finally, Charlene, Terry and their two daughters walked in.

Terry was holding their 3 year old daughter Lilly in his arms. She was wearing a pink tutu. Her golden blonde hair was tied into two now messy pigtails and her rosy cheeks brought out her bright blue eyes. She was only a baby, but she was the spitting image of her mother.

The other girl, Kayla, however, looked like her father. Her thick black hair flowed down in frizzy waves the top of her back. Her dark green eyes glistened against her chocolate skin. She was tapping away at her phone.

"Hi!" Charlene said excitedly. Willa stood up and the two girls hugged. The years had treated Charlene well. Her long, straight hair fell to her mid back. Her skin was still as perfect as it had always been, and despite two children she was still very skinny.

"Sorry we're late" Charlene said. "Kayla and I were running late at the studio and then we had to come home, shower and change.

Charlene owned a dance studio in which she hosted a competition team. Kayla was on the team, and the pair spent a good amount of their time at the studio.

"Not a problem!" Willa said. "Hello Kayla" she said, turning to the girl.

"Hey" Kayla said, never looking up from her phone. Her voice was monotone and uncaring, as if she wasn't even paying attention.

"Kayla" Charlene said sternly. Kayla sighed and looked up from her phone.

"Hi Aunt Willa" she said. The Turners sat down. Amy was sitting across from Kayla.

"Hey" she said awkwardly.

"Hi" Kayla said.

"So how have you been?"

"Good. You?"

"Same" The girls didn't know what to say. All of the keepers' children had grown up close, but some stayed closer than others as they grew up. Being on her dance team, Kayla had started to float away from the group. Amy tried to pick up the conversation.

"So my parents told the twins and me a new keeper story last night" she said.

"You honestly still believe those stories?" Kayla said.

"Of course! You don't?"

"Come on" Kayla said. "Disney villains becoming real?"

"Well ya! Normally I wouldn't believe it, but it happened _to them"_

"And you don't think they're just telling us that?"

"Ya okay they all came up with this knowledge that could fit an entire book series just so they could all tell their kids the same bedtime story" Amy said sarcastically.

"I'm just saying it sounds a little fishy." Kayla said.

"Whatever. Agree to disagree"

"Sure" The rest of the night went on. Conversation continued between Amy and Kelly, although it remained awkward and slightly dry.

The brief conversation between the two girls showed a truth, a harsh truth. The keepers had told their children the stories of their adventures their whole lives. The kids knew everything: who the Overtakers were, how their parents played a role in it, how everything came to be. The kids had always loved to hear the stories except now, they were growing up. Some of them may hold onto the belief, but as kids grow up, they start to lose their faith in magic; and honestly, having not experienced it first-hand, who could blame the kids if they started to stop believing in the keeper tales?

* * *

Abigail Whitman sat in her room with her guitar, coming up with the basic chords for a new song. She strummed some notes and wrote them down on the blank sheet music in front of her. Then, she turned back to her guitar to play the chords again and figure out the next sequence.

Abigail Whitman was a 12 year old girl, with straight brown hair that came down to her shoulders. Her skin was not as light as her father's, but not as tan as her mother's. Her tone could be described as a very light caramel .She had bright brown eyes and a pale pink smile that made dimples in her cheeks when it lit up her face.

She had always loved music and her dream had always been to become a singer-songwriter. Right now she was working on her newest piece. As Abigail wrote down the next chords and got ready to strum the tune that she had so far, she heard a gentle knocking on her door.

"Come in!" she said.

A boy her age who looked like her walked into the room. It was her twin brother, Dillard. The biggest difference was that his skin was much lighter, taking his tone completely from their father. Dillard, like his sister, had brown eyes and dimples. His brown hair sat in a curly mop on top of his head. His smile was crystal clear white, and lit up a room like a sun reaching its highest point in the sky.

"Hey" he said.

"Hey Dill!" Abigail replied.

The twins had been best friends, completely inseparable, their whole lives. They had a friendship stronger than either one of them had built outside of the home. Dillard came and sat down on Abigail's bed.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Just working on a new song." Abigail replied. "I've got all of the lyrics down; I'm just trying to figure out the best chords"

"Can I hear it?"

"Well it's more of a mashup. It's got lines of an already written song in there."

"Doesn't matter" Dillard said. "If you wrote it I'm sure it's amazing." Abigail smiled. She began to strum a slow tune.

_It started as a mystery_

_Never thought it would end up like this_

Dillard smiled as he listened to his sister sing. He was usually the only one who got to hear her songs. Abigail paused and the music sped up

_So hang on tight and pray for your lives_

_Stay here with me we'll be alright_

_Who'd have known this was a wild ride_

_It's a small world after all. _

Abigail stopped strumming and looked up at her twin brother.

"That's all I have finished right now" she said.

"Abby!" Dillard said. "That was great!"

"Thanks" she said shyly. Abby was a bit self-conscious about her music, but she knew she could always play it for her brother, her truest friend in the world, the tenor to her soprano. They complimented each other and told each other everything. Abigail knew she could always confide in Dillard, even if it was what could be seen as "girl stuff". He was there for her and she was there for him: always.

Despite this though, there was still one thing Dillard did not know about Abigail. It was the one thing Abby knew she could never tell her second half. It was her darkest secret.

"Guys!" Their mother screamed from upstairs. "Dinner!"

"Coming!" Dillard and Abbigail shouted. Dillard was standing there waiting for his sister.

"It's okay" Abigail said, smiling. "You head on down. I'm just putting my guitar away I don't want to keep you." The truth was, Abigail wanted to practice, and she couldn't do that with her brother in her room.

"Alright then" Dillard said "See ya" Then he disappeared down the hallway.

Abigail finished putting her music things away and then, concentrating, focused on the landing at the bottom of the stairs and nothing but the landing of the stairs. If she let anything else come into her mind, who knows what would happen?

_Come on Abby, concentrate!_ She thought to herself. She stood there, in front of her bed, thinking, thinking thinking…POP! There she was at the bottom of the stairs. Abigail smiled. She was getting good at this. She felt a little dizzy, as usual, but it went away in a few seconds.

Abigail walked into the dining room where her mother, father, Dillard and their younger brother Eddie sat grabbing slices of pizza.

"Hey Abby" Eddie said. He had been out at a friend's house all day. Eddie was a short boy with short, straight, brown hair. He looked a lot like his father, except for his brown eyes, which he got from his mother. He was 10 years old and a very happy kid. There was almost never a time when he wasn't smiling.

"Hi Eddie" Abigail said. She sat down and enjoyed her dinner with her family.

As Abigail went to sleep that night, she thought about the lyrics to her new song.

_So hang on tight and pray for your lives_

_Stay here with me we'll be alright_

_Who'd have known this was a wild ride_

She wrote them about a story, a story her father had told her. Little did she know that they would soon become a part of her own life.

**A/N: Well ya. Hope you liked. Sorry if it's kind of dry, or wierd. Like I said, introduction chapters are practically impossible. I have so much more respect for authors now...if that's possible. Anywho, I promise promise promise I will try to be better with updating this time. I can't say I'll be perfect, but I'll really try to make sure that 6 month gap doesn't happen again. I'm also planning two Once Upon a Time AUs so I have to see how everything will play out. Plus I say I'm gonna work on writing these things but then...Tumblr. So that's my schpeel. I hope you guys can eventually love this story as much as I already do in my head. Stick around, I've got big things planned. If all goes well maybe a multi-fic series. Who knows? Bye!**

** -kingdomkeepers365**


	2. The Return

**A/N: He_y _there keepers! Chapter 2 is finally here! I told you I was bad at updating. I'm reading fangirl now and this girl puts out a chapter every day and I'm just baffled at it. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! Enjoy!  
**

Amanda Whitman was lying in bed reading a book. Her husband Finn climbed in next to her.

"Big day tomorrow" he said.

"Ya" she replied. "I'm going to sleep now. Just finishing the page." Amanda turned out the lamp. Finn kissed her on the cheek and they both drifted into sleep.

Amanda felt herself waking up. Was it really morning already? It felt as if she had barely slept. She didn't even remember dreaming. As she stretched out, she noticed that the ground underneath her was hard. Had she fallen out of bed? Maybe it wasn't morning yet after all. Amanda slowly opened her eyes and immediately stumbled back, wide awake. This hadn't happened since she was a teenager. She didn't even think it was possible anymore!

She looked around, wondering if the others were here as well. Sure enough, there was Finn, reaching out a hand to her. She accepted it and he helped her up onto her feet.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Ya" she said. "Is everyone else here too?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen anyone yet. I just woke up a minute before you did"

"But how are we here? They got rid of our DHIs. There's new ones. There's been generations of new ones!"

"I don't know"

"_Why _are we here? It's been 20 years since we stopped them, and we never saw a single disturbance in all that time. Wayne's dead. Who brought us here?"

"I don't _know_ Amanda" Finn said firmly. He wasn't angry, just confused.

"Don't get snippy with me"

"Sorry. I just….I'm just as confused as you okay?" Amanda walked over to Finn and held his hand.

"Come on" she said. "Let's go see if we can figure this out." The two cautiously made their way down mainstreet. After a minute or so, they saw someone else bolting at them. Quickly, Amanda recognized her sister.

"Thank god" Jess said, approaching the couple. "You guys are here too."

"What happened?" Amanda asked her sister.

"Do you expect me to know? I just got here like 5 minutes ago. Donnie and Charlene were here already. Now all that's left is…."

"Guys?" they all heard Willa say from behind them. They turned around and she was lumbering towards them. Philby was still waking up. "Wh…what happened?"

As Philby stood up, Charlene and Maybeck came walking over to join the group. The same questions sped through everyone's mind. How did they get here? Who crossed them over? Why were they crossed over? Was it just a mistake, or was something more sinister at play here?

Five minutes later, the group was sitting around the hub. Willa pulled her robe tightly around her. Even in Florida the night air was cool. Philby pulled her close to him and rubbed her arm, trying to create body heat. She smiled at him, still afraid of what was going on. There was fear in everyone's eyes. No one had the slightest clue what was happening.

"So what should we do?" Amanda said.

"We should probably go see Wanda. Maybe she's behind this" Jess suggested.

"I don't know" said Finn. "I haven't been to the firehouse since…" He couldn't finish his sentence. Amanda put comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Finn honey it's been 5 years. He was an old man." she said.

Five years ago, Wayne had passed away. It was peaceful, simply of old age. Ever since then Wanda had taken up residence in the firehouse apartment. She often visited with the keepers, but either they met halfway, or she came to them.

"I know. I should be over it I just…" Finn said.

"No." Maybeck said. "I uh…I get it. I haven't been either."

"Neither have I" Willa said.

"Nor me" Philby added.

"We'll all get through it together" Amanda said to Finn, now gently rubbing her hand where it lay on him. Just then, a voice rang out from behind them.

"Oh thank goodness. It worked. You're all here"

The keepers turned around and looked behind them. A young woman stood behind them in a robe. Her wavy brown hair was in a side braid. Willa knew she looked familiar, but she couldn't quite figure out where she had seen her before. The woman noticed the confusion and fear in their faces.

"Oh I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself." she said. "I'm Belle"

"Belle" Willa said. "Of course. I knew you looked familiar. Well I'm…"

"No need to introduce yourselves" Belle said. "I know who you are. Don't think any of us here have forgotten what you all did for our kingdom"

"That's great." said Maybeck. "But why exactly are we here?" Belle's face grew somber.

"Perhaps we should all go to my castle" she said. "I can explain it there." Hesitantly the keepers got up and followed Belle through the kingdom. Little did they know their lives were about to be changed.

The keepers along with Belle and Adam sat around the fire place. brought in a tray of tea and handed it out to the group. She walked over to Maybeck. Sarcastically, he said

"Got any coffee?" Charlene nudged him in the arm. He laughed slightly and took the cup from the woman. "Thank you" he said.

Willa took a sip of her teas and then spoke up. "So what's going on?" she asked. Belle and Adam looked at each other worriedly.

"I'm afraid this isn't going to be easy to hear" Belle said.

"What?" Amanda asked worriedly.

"Well, you see…" Belle continued. "A few days ago there was a situation."

"What kind of situation?" Philby asked.

"Well I was talking with some of the others and…" she took a deep breath in and out. "The Evil Queen was spotted in Fantasyland after hours."

"Wait do you mean…?" Charlene began, sitting up in shock.

"Yes. It seems the Overtakers are rising again."

Jess dropped her cup to the floor. Willa's hands immediately cupped over her mouth. Amanda's jaw dropped. Finn and Philby looked worriedly at each other. Maybeck shouted a bit of profanity and rose a bit. Charlene tried not to cry.

How could this have happened? It ended twenty years ago. They had been free for _twenty years_. And now here they were, back to square one.

"You mean to tell me?" Finn asked. "That after all this time, after all of these years with nothing, they're just back." His voice cracked in a sound that came off as half sad, half angry. He, along with everyone, was just confused. He was just _afraid. _

"Yes I'm afraid so."

"Wait a minute" Maybeck said. "You said The Evil Queen was spotted. How does one Overtaker mean that they're all back?" There were nods and 'ya's around the room.

"Well" Willa pointed out. "Finn did trap her and Cruella in the Aruba caves for what should have been forever. If she's out, it means she had help. It means there was an escape plan. It also means that she's angry."

"There's something else" Belle said. All eyes turned on her. She took a deep breath. "It was The Evil Queen who was spotted, but…her voice was not the only one heard." Willa buried her head in her hands.

"Who else?" Philby muttered exhaustedly through clenched teeth.

"Cruella Deville" Belle said. "And Tia Dalma. That's all we know for now."

"No sign of Maleficent so far?" Charlene asked.

"No" Belle said.

"Good to know she's probably still dead then." Philby said.

"Wait a minute" said Jess. "Why are you telling us? I get that we used to do this, but aren't there new DHIs now? People younger, more able than us?"

"Well yes." said Belle, clearly trying to dance around what else had to be said. "But all of you are already trained for this. You know everything that you need to know. You've done this before."

"That doesn't change the fact that we can't do the same things we did when we were 15!" Finn shouted. A look of worry and apology crossed the faces of the royal couple. Something clicked in Finn's mind.

"No" he said adamantly. "No! I won't allow it!"

"What? What is it?" Charlene asked. Willa had figured it out too and she felt sick to her stomach.

"They want the kids to fight" she said. Belle looked at the floor. A silence filled the room.

"What even makes you remotely think we would put our children in that kind of danger?!" Finn barked.

"Finn" Amanda said, putting a hand on his arm, attempting to calm his temper

"No!" he said. "These are our _children _we're talking about Amanda!"

"I know" she whispered. "But you need to calm down."

"We know it is a lot to ask" Belle said, feeling horrible. "And I am so sorry. Our kingdom is indebted to you, to all of you. We are not demanding. This is a sincere request for help."

"Well you're not getting our kids." Finn said firmly. He was furious.

"We don't expect it" Belle said. "If at least, you all could help us yourselves, it would be more than we could ever hope for. We know you all have lives, and families, and that times are different now. If you don't want to help us we understand. We can always train the new DHI children. But we know that we can always put our trust in you." Another silence filled the room.

"We'll give you some time to talk alone" Belle whispered. She placed an all too familiar black remote on the floor in front of them. "Here is the return. Go home when you're ready. When you have an answer, cross back over. Dell I assume you can still do it manually."

"I can try" Philby said.

"Well than this is goodbye for now. And thank you." Adam took Belle's arm, and together they walked out of the room.

"So" Maybeck said.

"So" Philby repeated.

"So? So what?" Finn said. "It should be obvious. We're not going to let them fight."

"Slow down there Finn." Charlene interjected.

"Why do you actually think they should fight?"

"Well it would be a great experience for them! Don't you remember how much fun it was to be a keeper? Don't you remember that rush?"

"Yes and I also remember that it included nearly getting killed practically every day."

"Charlene has a point" Philby added. "It would teach them a lot. I remember it helping me to grow as a person and to gain amazing life experience."

"And we would be able to be with them the entire time!" Charlene said. Philby nodded. Finn looked furious. Soon there was yelling and arguing.

"Everybody calm down!" Jess shouted. "Has anyone ever considered asking the kids what they think about this?" Silence fell across the room for a brief moment.

"You think they should have a choice in the matter?" Finn scoffed.

"Of course" Jess paused. "Look I'm not thrilled with the idea of Kelly fighting"

"Then don't let her!" Finn said, cutting her off. Jess stared at him coldly.

"But, if she wants to fight I'm not going to stop her. And Charlene's right. We would be there, fighting with them side by side the entire time."

"Jess is right" Maybeck said. "It should be up to the kids"

Willa still said nothing. She wasn't exactly sure how she felt. She was practically sick to her stomach. Everyone made good points. She wasn't sure if she wanted Amy fighting. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to fight. This was all so sudden, all so shocking. Philby, quickly noticing what was happening, put a comforting arm around her. She smiled, but still was tortured inside.

"Look" Amanda said. "Let's just all agree on one thing here. When we go to the parks tomorrow, we need to go see Wanda." Everyone nodded and spoke small words of agreement.

"Okay then" Finn said, grabbing the return. "We meet just where and when we said we would. Then we send the kids off on a ride and head to the firehouse, first thing. Okay?" Again, everyone agreed.

"See you all in the morning" Finn said. Then he pushed the button.

* * *

Amanda woke up in her bed with a start. She was breathing heavily. Turning to her left, she saw Finn, still sound asleep. Was the whole experience merely a dream? Frightened, she nudged Finn awake.

"Finn." she shouted. "Finn!" He too woke up. He looked at her with knowing eyes, and she knew that it had all really happened. They continued to look at each other, their eyes full of worry and concern. This was real. The Overtakers were back, and they had to stop them.

* * *

At the same time, Jess woke in her own bed, startled and scared. She opened her eyes to find her husband standing over her. The first thing she noticed was that he was worried.

"Thank god you're okay!" he said.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jess asked, her voice still groggy from the effects of sleep. She was a bit confused, and scared. What had happened while she was crossed over.

"Well I've been trying to wake you up for the past 10 minutes." Neal said.

"So what?" Jess said, now sitting up. "I'm not allowed to oversleep?"

"This wasn't normal. I know you. You're a light sleeper."

"So I deviated from that this one time. So what?" Jess was trying to dodge the conversation and provide the best explanation that she could.

"You don't understand" Neal continued, stress still in his voice. "You weren't budging."

"I was just really tired that's all." Jess climbed out of bed now and started to get out of her pajamas.

"Well I was worried." Neal paused. "Did something happen? You know you can tell me anything."

Jess looked at him for a moment. She wanted so badly to confide in him, to express her own fears and concerns. She wanted to share with him everything she had just faced, and everything that she was about to face. Briefly, she even considered doing so…but she knew that she couldn't. Sure she had told him about the keepers, and her powers. She had told him about it all. He watched her tell Kelly the stories all the time.

He had said before that he believed, but she knew that that wasn't true. She didn't blame him. It was too much to ask anyone to believe. Yes, she wanted to tell him the real reason why she did not wake easily that morning. She wanted to, but she simply couldn't.

"I had trouble sleeping last night." she said, finalizing the conversation. "I was tired. Nothing more" Then she walked into the bathroom and got ready for the day's outing.

**A/N: Hey hoped you liked it! Just to let you all know, I'm thinking about compiling a thank you Ridley video for the release of the last KK book. It would basically be us fans in our own little segments thanking him for the series, and saying what we want him to know. I don't have all the details yet, but I'm trying to figure out the interest level. I already put out a notice on my Tumblr, same url as here. So if you think that's something youre interested in you can message me here, on tumblr, or just find the post in the kingdom keepers tag and reblog it and say something. That being said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Bye! See you soon!  
**

** -kingdomkeepers365**


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